Hiking/Snowshoe Trail from P7 in Larose Forest

Larose Forest is a complete gem and an absolute joy when it comes to hiking and biking. Both in the summer and the winter!

In the summer, the trail starting at P7 is a hiking trail, and in the winter, they’re shared between fatbikers and snowshoers. While there aren’t many stunning views or unique features along the trails in Larose Forest, the trails are still worth it because they’re so well maintained, and the tall pines in Larose are gorgeous to walk among. Since Larose Forest is just over 27,000 acres, you can really feel enveloped by nature while you’re there.

Quick Facts

Length: 5.94 km
Difficulty: Easy (on a scale of easy-moderate-hard)
Trailhead Coordinates: 45.372621, -75.240150
Washroom at Trailhead: Yes (a porta-potty)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Cell Reception: Good
Wheelchair Accessible: No
Parking: Right at the trailhead.
Cost: Free.
Open: Trails are closed for spring thaw from March until May.

Getting There

Larose Forest is east of Ottawa, but worth the drive. Especially if, like me, you have a newborn who could benefit from a nice long nap in the car! You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.372621, -75.240150.

There’s a big sign at the side of the road beside P7 so it’s hard to miss. If you look at some of the older maps of Larose Forest online, you might think that this set of trails starts at P1, but they don’t (although there is another, longer set of loops starting out there so take your pick!).

The parking lot at P7 is huge, with space for at least a hundred cars. Near the entrance there’s a porta-potty, but there are no other facilities at this lot.

The trailhead for this trail network is actually right at the entrance to the parking lot. You’ll see a sign posted on your right hand side as you drive in. Near the back is a big wooden bulletin board where you’ll end up at the end of your hike. “Traffic” in Larose Forest is designed to flow in one direction due to the shared nature of the trails, so I recommend starting at the official trailhead.

The Trail

At the trailhead there’s a map posted. Since the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association manages these trails and everything they do is amazing, the trail map is quite detailed and accurate.

I intended to complete the longest loop, taking all the outer trails. Really though, this route is only 400 metres longer than if you were to take Trail 27 and 28 over to the main circuit, so its not going to lengthen your hike by much.

Setting out, the trail was groomed for XC skiing. Immediately, it brought me across the road and into the forest on the other side. Here, the trail split right away and I chose to head off to my right to hop on section 24. Trails 24 and 26 are groomed the whole way, so it would be easy to walk side by side with someone. After just 500 metres on Trail 24 there was the option to “cheat” across on Trail 25- but again, this would only make your hike incrementally shorter.

Trail Marking

Generally, every single time there was a trail split on this hike there was a map posted. There weren’t any trail markers along the way. But that wasn’t really an issue because the trail is so well established that it would have been tricky to get off of it. In the few spots where someone MIGHT be able to get off trail, there were blue arrows posted that pointed me in the right direction. There are also numbered trail markers at every trail split. These correlate with the numbers on the map to help keep you on track.

After hiking 1.3 km I reached the trail split where I would have to decide if I were going to head back on section #27 and complete a much shorter hike. If you walked just the two small loops at the beginning of the trail, your hike would be just over 2 km. Not bad, but I wanted to go further!

The Longer Loop

Instead, I turned to my right to hop on section #10. Crossing a tiny footbridge, the trail thinned out significantly. For the first time I was on single track, and it would remain this width for almost the entirety of my hike. Despite the change in the trail the snow was still quite packed down. This is usually the case since the fatbike tires and snowshoes combined work to pack the snow down and keep it quite firm.

I crossed over Indian Creek Road after hiking 1.92 km. There are a couple times along the way that you need to cross a road, but the trail is always well marked on the other side so it’s easy to know exactly where you’re headed.

I reached a trail split without a map (point D14) after hiking 2.24 km. On my left-hand side there was a number 30 trail marker posted. On my right, nothing. Taking a peek at the map I had saved on my phone, I headed off to the right. This brought me down into a little ravine, and steeply back up the other side where I arrived at the map posted at point D15.

Grant Cemetery

I headed off onto section 29, and the forest began to feel more uniformly pine. Eventually, I crossed over Grant Road, and passed Grant Cemetery on the other side.

Now I was on section 14 of the trail. This section was not my favorite, because there were a TON of trees marked for… something. Probably logging. I’m not really sure. But what I do know was that it didn’t look nice. There was a ton of orange spray paint along this section of the trail. Poor trees.

At the 3.8 km mark was the second spot on the trail where I wasn’t 100% confident in what direction to head in. And there was no sign to assist me. A wide trail continued on ahead of me, but off to my left a marked Trail 14 meandered through the woods as well. I was thrown off because the number 14 was in green (the colour of bike paths). Before, every trail split had boasted a purple trail marker, indicating it was most definitely a snowshoe trail. After a little exploration of the unmarked trail, I decided to stick with the marked Trail 14, and it turned out that was the way to go.

Trail Thoughts

Just 200 metres later I passed back over Clarence Cambridge Boundary Road. Now I was on section 15, the last section of the trail. This part of the trail was fun because there were a handful of long, skinny bridges that made up part of the trail.

Before I knew it I was back at the parking lot. I had to take Trail 16 back a few metres and it landed me at the back of the parking lot.

All in, I had hiked a shorter distance than what was listed on the map. My GPS recorded me as having travelled 5.3 km in total. It only took me about an hour and a half to cover that distance, because the trail most fairly flat and super easy to hike. I really like Larose Forest for how long and easy the trails are to hike. Easy as in, not too much navigating needs to be done. And there are long stretches where you can just let your mind wander and be calmed by nature. Some days, that’s exactly what you need.

Map and Elevation Gain

Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the Indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.